Thousands of ballots still uncounted amid tight MultCo commissioner races
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Votes remain too divided to declare winners in Districts 1, 2 and 4 for the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners race.
While the three races currently appear headed for runoffs in November, Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott told KOIN 6 News that there are tens of thousands of ballots that remain uncounted.
“As of right now we have about 50,000 ballots received yesterday that are being processed today,” Scott told KOIN 6 Wednesday morning. “We have another 13,000 that we received from the post office this morning that were postmarked yesterday or earlier.”
The U.S. Postal Service informed the county Wednesday afternoon that there are an additional 11,200 ballots postmarked May 21 that weren’t delivered last night.
“This brings our day-after postmarked ballot total to approximately 23,600,” Scott said. “We’ll be processing those after we finish the ballots received yesterday.”
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Candidates must receive more than 50% of the vote after all ballots are counted to declare victory in the May primary election. If candidates for any race fail to reach the 50% threshold, runoff elections are held in November, respectively. With 13 candidates vying for various Multnomah County Commissioner seats in Districts 1, 2 and 4, none of the candidates in the crowded field have obtained 50% of the counted vote as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
District 3 Incumbent Julia Brim-Edwards was the only candidate to receive a majority of the vote in the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners race. Brim-Edwards currently leads her only challenger TJ Noddings with 73.5% of the vote.
“It’s truly gratifying to get a very strong message of support from voters from east Portland, where I’ve lived, worked, and raised my family for 50 years,” Brim-Edwards told KOIN 6 News. “So I felt that voters really responded to the message that I had, which is that it’s time for change at the county. I was going to come in and disrupt the status quo and get the county back on track.”
The closest commissioner race is the fight for District 1 between Policy Director for Disability Rights Oregon Meghan Moyer and administrative law judge Vadim Mozyrsky. While Vadim took an early lead on election night, Moyer pushed ahead as the night went on. As of 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Moyer leads Mozyrsky by more than 3,000 votes. Moyer currently holds more than 46% of the counted votes. Mozyrsky has received roughly 40% of the vote.
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In District 4, candidate Vince Jones-Dixon is less than 1% away for claiming victory. However, as it stands, Jones-Dixon is falling short of the 50% threshold with 49.93% of the vote. Candidate Brian Knotts ranks second with 41.68% of the vote.
District 2, meanwhile, is more scattered. Former Interim Director of the Joint Office of Homeless Services Shannon Singleton has the largest lead with 46.06% of the vote. However, candidates Sam Adams and Jessie Burke hold 23.475 and 22.48% of the counted vote, respectively.
Multnomah County’s next election results report is scheduled for 6 p.m. If none of these candidates in Districts 1, 2 and 4 are able to obtain more than 50% of the vote, all three races will have runoffs in November.
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